Clematis danxiacola (Ranunculaceae), a new species from the Danxia landform area in Zhejiang Province, China

Clematis danxiacola, a novel species of Ranunculaceae discovered in the Danxia landform area of Zhejiang, China, is described and illustrated herein. This species exhibits morphological similarities to C. terniflora and C. chinensis, but can be distinguished by specific characteristics, including the indumentum of leaflet blades, sepal apex morphology, stamen and pistil quantities, and achene morphology and dimensions.

The plastome of C. danxiacola sp. nov. extends 159,506 bp and contains two inverted repeats of 31,040 bp, separated by a large single-copy region of 82,836 bp and a small single-copy region of 18,407 bp. The analysis revealed 136 functional genes, including 92 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that C. danxiacola shares close evolutionary relationship with C. terniflora and C. chinensis.